Judging from what I saw in last race I think Lewis Hamilton is coming to terms with his Mercedes car. To me his drive last Sunday, though he didnt win through no fault of his own, reminded me of some of his really excellent drives last year. Maybe he is now feeling more at one with the Merc. Whatever it is, for those seven laps Vettel and Red Bull has absolutely no answer as Hamilton was gapping Vettel. I think knowing the Mercedes was matching the Red Bulls and even doing a bit better will boost his confidence for the next race and he will go all out for victory. If the Mercedes goes well in the practice sessions then watch out for Lewis. Although Rosberg is doing well and has won two races if you look at his two wins... the first Hamilton was doing well but got mugged by the Red Bulls in the pits and the second Rosberg win Hamilton was in total control until the blowout. I think both are great drivers but I think Lewis seems a little more hungry then Rosberg.. Just look back at the Silverstone qualifying. Alonso?..I am not quite sure what went wring with the Farrari. Vettel? I think from his facial expression he is getting a little worried of the Mercedes, maybe because he hasnt been under too much pressure in the last few years. Webber? While he showed what he could do last weekend he lets Vettel get the better of him without putting up much of a fight. I cant help but wonder though... if anybody had this thought – Did Red Bull team have anything to do with Mark Webber's slow start off the grid? I know he has had that problem before but I cant help but feeling that the team would have preferred them not starting too close to each other . Maybe one of both might have retired before the end of the first lap. (lol) I would have been worried too if I were the team boss. (lol) Just a thought.
meh, i'd say Hamilton will win and it'll be an easy 1-2 for Mercedes; their car seems to have the best traction out of tight bends and Nurburgring is pretty much all slow corners. Hopefully it'll be wet because i can see it being boring as hell at the front.
They (Merc) seem to think they can smell blood. Ross as come out and said Paddy's main goal is to get even more out of this years car.. They already have the quickest car over one lap. Should their long run pace continue to improve, who's to say the Merc boys won't join the battle for the WDC in a few races time? However, there's a slight problem in the shape Adrian Newey and Seb Vettel, a tweak here and there could unleash a bit more pace from the RB9 and we all know Seb is more than capable of taking advantage of what the car can give him!
The silverarrows don't have long tbh, this is usually the weakest part for Seb until after Spa where they seem to dominate.
Benson strikes again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23162974 He admits Alonso was told not to press the DRS button again, but says it was a "normal" reflex reaction to the beep the drivers get in their ears when the device is active and can be used. "I don't want to go into these things because it seems we are making accusations," Domenicali says. "We as a team did a mistake. Full stop. And it was very unfortunate because it was a race where easily second place was there. Easily."
(1) Personally I think it's because he ditched Nicole, ever since Rosberg was getting the measure of him before Silverstone Lewis knew he had to up his game to respond or be beaten by the end of the year which is still on the cards IMO. (2) I'm not sure, Seb was setting purple lap times before Hamiton's tyre failure and was really just holding a 2 second gap to preserve the tyres before then. I was hoping for a rematch of Austin but sadly Pirelli ruined that moment for me. (3) I had a great conversation with a Lewis fan at the campsite I was staying at after qualifying and we both felt Lewis was pushing his tyres that little bit more on purpose while Nico and Seb were actually holding back for the race. Considering Lewis had the tyre failure and Seb, Rosberg didn't I guess I was right thinking that. The lap was impressive but the 0.4 just seemed unrealistic considering Rosberg was on it all week and Seb himself said the lap was within his range if he too pushed as much as Lewis. (4) As a Seb ultra I don't think Seb is worried or stressed with Mercedes to the magnitude he was going through last year with the Alonso, Lewis mindgames and Media pressure of being a fluke champion because of the EBD. In my opinion Seb is pissed off that the FIA pretty much allowed Mercedes to "cheat" and not get punished for it, this I doubt will effect him for long. This isn't pressure for Seb tbh, the real pressure comes at the end which even Alonso struggles with against Vettel.
All I'd say on points 3 & 4, is after the stops, both Rosberg's and Vettel's tyres showed major signs they were about to go in a big way too, so I'd say Hamilton was just a little unlucky his went earlier. However if Pirelli hadn't screwed thme up, none of the drivers should have had to worry about that. I agree Vettel is not unduly worried. I think he would have waited for Hamilton to pit then unleashed some quick laps to jump him when he then pitted. Vettel I think is learning to hold back sometimes and wait for the race to come to him. He has the car which allows him to do that (as he has had for several years) but this years I see him racing only as hard as he has too, rather than go all out the entire race. Almost Prost-like. A shame for him that mechanicals came into it when he was seemingly cruising to victory and had it all under control.
anyone know who's actually in the GDPA (grand prix drivers association) that are threatening to boycott. bbc simply says "most" drivers, pedro de la rosa is chairman, button and vettel are directors (possibly massa as well, or maybe that was in the past) and that hamilton and raikonnen aren't in it. can't find a list anywhere on the interwebs (haven't really looked too hard)
Well CaptainF1 – Did you see the look on Vettel's face after the winning qualifying run by Hamilton? It was not just a look of disappointment, it was more a look of "What the...just happened here?" I think he was genuinely shocked actually - hence the "I wonder if Hamilton took a shortcut somewhere" comment. He looked genuinely worried on the way to weigh-in. And to "Allsaintchris" when you look back at the first race Rosberg won he was basically controlling the pace at the front. When the Red Bulls picked up the pace he also up his pace too. SO I am not too sure that with the pace the Mercedes is showing that Vettel will be able to get away with those fast laps. What I would like to see is Vettel fighting for wins so that we could see how good he really is. It would be really great to see Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso in equally good cars and qualifying at the front. That would be such a thrill, dont you think?
I think that was more of a swipe at the test gate scandal that was surrounding them, "shortcut". Also I couldn't see his expression as I was too far away from the big screen to get a decent look. How do we know we haven't seen it already for the last 3 years? The first major thing I've noticed is that nothing has changed even in slower, equal or faster cars against each other over this period, Vettel is still standing up there just like Lewis and Alonso.
